Early Doors

Overreaction Theatre: From zero to hero in 111 heart-stopping minutes

Arsene Wenger shrugs his shoulders at Wembley, mirroring the shrugs of millions of Gooners across the world

Arsene Wenger apparently learned a lot on Saturday: he went from being the world's worst manager, to its greatest ever, in the space of two hours.

It's fair to say that Arsenal's FA Cup final did not well. And since the concept of "fairness" is rather alien to most Twitter users, they decided that, after nine minutes of the match against Hull at Wembley, they had seen enough.

When does a club lose its "big club" status? I think it's time we stopped talking about Arsenal as a big club now. They're a joke.

Santi Cazorla's beautiful free kick quickly stemmed the tide of bile, however, and instead got people who should know better declaring the Cup Final an all-time classic, with just 73 minutes left to go:

Superb free kick from Cazorla reduces Arsenal's deficit to 2-1. Only 17 mins gone. Already looking like the best FA Cup final at new Wembley — Oliver Kay (@OliverKayTimes) May 17, 2014

As for Laurent Koscielny's equaliser in the second half, which would prove enough to force extra time? It got people literally lyrical.

He's right you know - we won't ever know. Nor will we ever know what would have happened if Elvis had interrupted the match moments before that goal, perhaps riding Shergar into the Hull penalty box. In any case, keeping the match alive wasn't enough for one 'fan':

Ramsey and Cazorla just combined to muck up a great opportunity. — Colin Udoh (@ColinUdoh) May 17, 2014

But once Aaron Ramsey popped up to bring home the bacon in extra time, all was forgiven - and some of the same voices who'd been calling "Wenger out" started focusing on different aspects of the afternoon:

(There are nine Arsene Wengers on Linked In, in case you're wondering, so he's clearly not the only one.) There was, of course, one blot on the horizon for fans who enjoyed what did indeed turn out to be a classic final: the happiness of Piers Morgan: